A Day in the Life of a County Commissioner

By Elena Novak on October 28, 2013

The schedule of a politician is mind-blowingly erratic. If you love the rigidity of a 9 to 5, you won’t find it here. When I asked Leon County Commissioner At-Large Mary Ann Lindley if I could spend a day following her through the inner workings of a politician’s life, I neglected to realize that most politicians at the local and state level don’t work in an office, and many of them oftentimes work from home.

Commissioner Lindley invited me to attend a meeting for the Transportation Disadvantaged Committee on Oct. 16. The committee meeting was a public hearing where citizens could come and raise their concerns to Commissioner Lindley, who is the chairperson, and the community representatives, who are mostly staff from transportation companies. A blind, older woman to my right spoke up – she was concerned about the present inefficiency of the Dial-A-Ride system in Tallahassee instituted for senior citizens and those with disabilities.

Photo by Village Square on Flickr

Commissioner Lindley handled this and other concerns throughout the general meeting by asking questions – she is new to the committee, and expressed to me after the meeting that she wants to understand the specifics and technicalities. While possibly unnecessary, they help to greater serve the affected community. This is the attitude with which she tackles the other committees she is a part of.

Committee meetings comprise the majority of her work. In fact, she is on seven committees for the following: the Capital Regional Transportation Planning Agency, the Community Redevelopment Agency, the Challenger Center, the Enterprise Zone Board, the Transportation Disadvantaged Citizens Advisory Board, the Canopy Roads Citizens Advisory Board, and the Riley House Board.

She favors the Transportation Disadvantaged Committee, which is also the only committee over which she presides. “It may be my favorite assignment because it deals immediately with the needs of people with disabilities, the blind, the elderly and others with dire transportation needs,” she said.

After the meeting, and after allowing me to sit on a bench and chat with her for a bit, she left for a community development meeting, at which it was decided that an open air farmers’ market would open in a low-income area.

“CRA [Community Redevelopment Agency] members seem in universal agreement that we will try to get an open air farmers’ market in the Frenchtown area for local growers to bring produce in this ‘food desert’ where there is no grocery store and so many folks rely on ‘minute market’ quick foods that are typically unhealthy,” she said.

And the evening before, she attended a very interesting gala where she was awarded “Most Supportive Public Official” of the LGBT community for sponsoring a Domestic Partnership Registry and getting it unanimously passed by the County Commission faster than any other newly-elected commissioner who has put forth legislation early on in their term.

“It is a significant ordinance that I feel is important to counteract, to a small extent, Florida’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriages,” she said. “While it may be largely symbolic in the eyes of many, it does, however, provide a variety of serious legal protections for not only committed same-sex couples but also heterosexual couples who have long-time relationships to the point they are committed to being responsible to each other for various legal, medical and educational decisions but for various reasons (wills, finances, objections of adult children) they choose not to marry.”

In addition to passing legislation and serving on committees, she attends County Commission meetings and meets with constituents, with some more obligations in between. “My weekly schedule is never the same,” she said. “The above committee meetings occur regularly, either monthly, or quarterly or sometimes every other week and all have agendas that I have to read and understand ahead of the meetings. In some cases I will have an hour briefing from the executive director of the board’s working staff, so hours are spent in preparation of these meetings and the issues around which they revolve, the programs that come from out of them.”

She reads a beastly amount for County Commission meetings as well. “My main function is as a county commissioner and we have two meetings a month with agendas that run to 1,500 pages, so the reading is enormous,” she said. “As well, we get lots of emails, phone calls and a few visits from citizens interested in some of the 30 or so agenda items and public hearings we conduct, so there is lots of back and forth with our constituents, trying to get answers for them or hear their concerns.”

She also mentioned having to attend a few fundraisers and a speaking engagement at a candlelight vigil for those who have died of overdoses. Attending community events, such as ribbon cuttings for new businesses, is also not uncommon.

“I’m not actually in my office at the Courthouse a lot, but am reading materials at home, attending the above-named meetings or community events very often to keep up with the community concerns, problems, ambitions and projects,” she said. “It’s at least a good half-time job, and at times nearly full time — but with somewhat erratic hours, not the 8-5 hours of regular jobs.”

She has wisdom to impart on future political leaders, which centers largely on getting involved. The main thing I think a young person, or anyone, can do in preparation for public office is to be involved in things right now as a volunteer or member of local advisory boards, etc.,” she said. “Both the county and the city have a lot of citizen advisory boards with one or two year terms and are always in need of volunteer members…If you have some special areas of interest, get involved, learn about its issues, become kind of an expert in knowing not only what they’re doing, but maybe what they ought to be doing more of. In other words, make yourself an informed and active citizen who has something solid to offer as a public official who can get things done.”

Getting things done is the truest mark of a good public official, she feels. “We have too many people running for office as an ego boost, for the power, money in some cases, opportunities that benefit them personally and not enough who run for real public service to make their communities better,” she said.

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